


boy, you fill my lungs with sweetness

by evanescent



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics)
Genre: (definitely not in that order), (in space!), Accidental Marriage, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Meeting the Parents, featuring:, probably not in that order though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 02:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11841768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evanescent/pseuds/evanescent
Summary: “The weather is nice today, you should take Jason to the beach, Kyle. I suppose you don’t get a lot of sun in Gotham,” she adds, addressing Jason.“Not really,” he agrees with a smile. “And certainly not in my line of work.”“We will consider it, thanks, mom,” Kyle replies as Maura just hums in acknowledgment and heads for her bedroom.Dropping on the sofa next to Jason, Kyle says, “Now my motherknowsyou’re either a brooding vigilante or a shady crook.”“Crook,” Jason repeats with disdain. “I used to be a crime lord, Kyle, show some respect for the profession.”





	boy, you fill my lungs with sweetness

**Author's Note:**

> this was completely unplanned? but it mostly wrote itself so i'm not complaining
> 
> title is based from bloom by papter kites. takes place in an improved continuity where certain characters haven't died, jason likes to play "i'm batman's son" card without actually saying that out loud and i namedrop people so you know they exist and more or less get along

Jason knows the moment he’s the rooftop, he will have a split second to do what’s necessary before he starts plummeting. Therefore, he’s ready and fires what’s left in his magazine, his aim clear and steady. He doesn’t see what happens, but considering a sudden explosion and inhuman screeching ringing through the air, Jason thinks he did just right.

Ha, both Deadshot and Deathstroke can kiss his ass with their _excellent marksmanship_ skills. When was the last time they saved New York from an interdimensional invasion? Yeah, he thought so.

The only problem at hand, as Jason realizes with growing urgency, is that he’s falling twenty stories down to the ground. His grappling hook is damaged and he doesn’t have a spare. Things aren’t looking pretty, to say the least.

And then, before Jason can start seriously considering the possibility of his second death, he’s suddenly falling no more, landing on something vaguely soft and definitely not real. He grins under his helmet.

“Did you seriously just construct a large, fluffy blanket to stop my fall? I expected something more sophisticated,” Jason says, craning his neck to look at Kyle floating a few feet away from him.

“You are impossible,” Kyle answers, looking a little unnerved under his mask. “You didn’t have to jump off the damn roof.”

“I didn’t jump, I was pushed off by semi-sentient demonic robots from the other dimension,” Jason protests.

“No, if anything, you _let yourself_ be pushed off.”

“Yeah, so I could put a dent in evil machinery grounding the robots in our dimension and save the day?” Jason sits up on the blanket and brushes himself off. “No appreciation or whatsoever.”

“Wouldn’t mean much if you fell to your death,” Kyle comments flatly and waves off Superman flying their way. “I got him, he’s fine,” he calls.

“But you _did_ catch me,” Jason says.

“Is this your roundabout way of stating you trust me?” Kyle puts his free hand over his chest. “Are we having a moment? Is that what’s happening here?”

“And if _you_ didn’t,” Jason continues, ignoring him, “Big Blue himself would. I mean, someone would eventually catch me before I splattered on the street. I guess.”

“You really didn’t think this through,” Kyle says, shaking his head. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Oh, so how it works, Mister Ex-Justice Leaguer?”

Kyle worries his lip for a moment before announcing hushedly, “I’m not saying that, at some point, Superman definitely did carry Batman bridal style.”

“Please,” Jason scoffs. “Like it only happened once.”

Kyle sighs, but Jason thinks the corners of his mouth twitch up. “That’s why,” he starts, gesturing to the mess around them, “I always say we shouldn’t hang out without Donna. Things like this don’t happen when we’re with her.”

“That’s not true and you know it. When we hang out with Donna, it either goes amazingly great or spectacularly wrong,” Jason states. “That’s what you get when you put three cosmic mistakes together. Besides, we just _stumbled_ upon this mess today. It wasn’t our fault.”

“No, but I have a feeling Constantine knew something was off and he dumped that on us, so he wouldn’t have to deal with it,” Kyle answers. Jason thinks it’s a sound assumption. “Speaking of which, why the hell did you get into an argument with John Constantine at a bar instead of, you know, ignoring him like a normal person would?”

Jason shrugs and winces; his shoulders feel bruised up. “I was feeling pretty lively. I like to pick my battles.”

“My indomitable will can waver and I can end up dropping you,” Kyle warns. Or threatens; makes no difference.

“You wouldn’t. First, because you appreciate my beautiful face very much –”

“It’s ironic you try to play that card with your ugly helmet on,” Kyle notices dryly.

“– and second, because Batman would definitely rip you a new one.”

Kyle involuntarily looks up to the roof where Bruce and a few other members of the League are most likely having a damage control. He makes a face.

“I hate you,” he states primly, finally starting to lower them to the ground level.

“Sure you do,” Jason says with a laugh. “Call me when you’re on the planet again. Today was fun.”

“I’m not going to hang out with you on Friday ever again.”

…

A few months and a whole lot of ordeals later, Kyle is spending Friday with Jason again. The only silver lining in the current situation is that they’re having a group movie night at Donna’s place, so technically it’s not _unsupervised_ hanging out.

Oh, and he’s a White Lantern now. What a life.

At some point during the evening, after two pretty good drinks mixed by Donna, a fierce discussion between Dick and Jason about which bad horror comedy they should watch next, and Roy and Connor getting bored of their argument and playing darts, Kyle falls asleep. It’s embarrassing, but in his defense, he got back on Earth just today and was roped into hanging out.

Drifting half-awake some time later, Kyle realizes he’s shamelessly using somebody’s shoulder as a pillow. At first he thinks it’s Connor, since he was sitting next to him, which would be cool because they’re best friends and Connor is kinda used to Kyle drooling in his sleep. After a moment, though, Kyle’s brain catches up with his nose and he realizes Connor definitely doesn’t smell of gunpowder and faint herbal-scented aftershave.

Kyle doesn’t know how he ended up falling asleep on Jason, but he _can’t_ wake up now.

Some sort of movie seems to be still playing, on a lower volume though, but Kyle doesn’t hear the rest of their friends, not until Jason says quietly, without moving, “Don’t even think about that, Harper.”

“Shesh, thought you were asleep, too,” Roy mumbles somewhere from behind Kyle. “Come on, Jay, it’s gonna be funny.”

“What are you, five? You and Dick are perfect for each other.” Jason says, voice still hushed.

Roy snorts. “I don’t want to hear remarks about my age from you.”

“Give me that or I’ll withdraw my generous, not to mention, _free_ services of baking birthday cakes for Lian,” Jason warns.

Kyle almost laughs at that. _Like hell you would_ , he thinks.

Roy must agree because he replies, “You know better than to make threats you wouldn't go through with. But eh, here you go,” he says, dropping something. “Spoilsport. I’m gonna bother Donna and Dick in the kitchen.”

After footsteps quiet down, Kyle asks, “What was that about?”

“Hm?” Jason seems just a little caught off guard. “Ah, nothing, I just stopped Roy from doodling some most definitely dumb things all over your face with a sharpie.”

Kyle is kind of touched Jason did that for him, but, as sluggish his brain may still be at the moment, it doesn’t really add up. Jason rarely stops petty behavior; he’s usually the instigator and executioner of all things petty.

“Jason,” Kyle asks slowly, “did _you_ draw something on my face while I was asleep?”

“Frankly, I’m hurt you’d suspect me of something so childish.”

“Was it a permanent marker?” Kyle asks, sighing. He still hasn’t opened his eyes. “I’m seeing Carol on a Lantern-related note tomorrow.”

After a longer moment, Jason answers, “...I’m not sure. Hang on.” Kyle makes a face when Jason rubs a thumb wet with slobber over his cheek. “Hmm, you give your mug a good scrubbing and it will wash off. Probably.”

“Did you have to do that? Gross,” he mumbles, without any heat.

Jason does laugh at that, but it’s silent; Kyle only feels his shoulder and chest shake. “You really wanna go there after you spent the past hour drooling all over my shirt?”

Fair enough, Kyle supposes. “Where’s Connor?”

“Got a call from West about a case they work on together and went to kick some ass, I presume. Gladly freed himself from being your armrest,” Jason adds and Kyle can hear a smirk in his voice.

“Traitor,” he mutters, yawning.

Jason sighs. “For your own good, I hope you’re not as wasted as you sound. Not sure Carol is gonna like dealing with you tomorrow.”

“Rude. I’m a full-fledged, full-spectrum space cop now.” Kyle scrutinizes himself internally before deciding, “‘m not wasted. Just very tired and alcohol made me sleepy.”

“So go back to sleep, Kyle,” Jason says. Kyle wants to argue, but suddenly there are fingers in his hair, gently combing through it. It feels… nice.

“All right, but only because you’re a surprisingly comfortable pillow,” he relents.

“Ah, I knew you only liked me for my body,” Jason teases. 

If Kyle wasn’t half-awake by this point already, he’d say something equally clever or teasing in reply. Instead, he just mumbles, “’s good for cuddling,” and hopes he won’t feel _too_ mortified remembering it tomorrow.

…

Kyle doesn’t know how he – _they_ – got into this situation.

“I’ve been in space for far too long for something like this to happen to me,” he mutters under his breath for probably the fifth time in the past ten minutes.

“Geez, chill out, Kyle,” Jason tells him, looking distinctly unperturbed. Kyle would even go as far as to say he looks like he’s enjoying himself.

“No, Jason, things like this happen to either complete greenhorns or Hal Jordan,” he says. Kyle knows his capacity for good tends to lead him into troublesome situations; he should have let Jessica and Simon handle this, especially since he had Jason as for an unplanned companion. “I’m a White Lantern. I have reputation to maintain,” he stresses.

“Just because you got a new ring and a makeover doesn’t mean you stopped being you. So, a trouble magnet,” Jason replies, crossing and uncrossing his arms from beside Kyle. “I mean, seriously, the emotional spectrum and stuff aside, sometimes you just end up accidentally getting married on a planet hundreds of light years away from home.”

Kyle looks at a huge, rounded table they’re seated by, with the planet’s inhabitants – average-sized, pink beings with scale-like skin and wings – who are having good time at what is, apparently, his and Jason’s wedding.

He’s still a little unsure how they got from saving the planet from a rogue group of wannabe space pirates to this. An elder member of the community expressed their gratitude for taking care of the criminals who have been ravaging their homes and said they wanted to organize the ceremony for him and Jason as a thank you. That’s how the ring translated their speech, anyway, so Kyle agreed; it sounded _nice_. He just regretted there was no cultural note informing that _the ceremony_ didn’t refer to, as Kyle assumed, an honorable decoration or a feast in their honor, but a wedding.

When they caught on, it seemed _rude_ to interrupt and back away. Kyle was just glad the ceremony was only superficially similar to the weddings on Earth and he didn’t actually have to kiss Jason, if only for a fact he wasn’t sure if he would either go along with it or punch Kyle in the face.

So, here they were now.

“Kyle, you gotta try this,” Jason says as he puts a serving of something white, yellow and maybe slightly moving on his plate. Kyle gives him a _look_. On the other side of the table, somebody starts singing. “I know, I know, doesn’t look very appealing, but tastes pretty good. Kinda like curry, but not really?”

“You’re not bothered by our current predicament at all, are you?” he can’t help but ask.

Jason shrugs. “Listen, when you let me tag along with you into space this time –”

“You mean, after you imposed and whined your way into this,” Kyle corrects, raising his eyebrows.

“– _semantics, Kyle_ – anyway, the point is, I expected weird shit to happen. I was _looking forward_ to that. Granted, I expected more of, you know, sector-wide crises or aliens shooting at me all the time, but this?” He shrugs. ‘It isn’t so bad. The food is decent. The planet has a clear atmosphere which doesn’t give me headaches and it's inhabited by pink beings who don’t care for the concept of gender binary. What’s not to like?” Jason tips his chair back. “Besides, you could have ended up with some decidedly less pleasant company than me.”

“Really,” Kyle says flatly.

“Yeah, like, dunno, Sinestro?”

Kyle shudders at the mere thought. “If I accidentally married Sinestro, I’d kill him and then myself.”

“And people say I’m dramatic,” Jason comments, rolling his eyes.

Shaking his head, Kyle takes a hesitant try of the dish on his plate. It does taste good. He lets himself relax. For once, it really doesn’t look like someone is going to attack them out of the blue or something.

“You know,” Kyle speaks, glancing back to Jason, “you are right. You _are_ better company than Sinestro.”

Jason laughs at that. “I feel like that’s setting the bar _awfully_ low, but thanks anyway,” he says with a sweet smile, “ _my dear spouse_.”

Kyle absolutely _does not_ choke on his food, but he coughs and chugs half of his wine-like drink anyway.

“While we’re at this, do you think they could give us a marriage certificate? Or a seal, or whatever they have here,” Jason says. “I wanna see Bruce’s expression when I shove it in his face he missed my wedding.”

It’s a good thing Jason is joking. He _hopes_ Jason is joking. Otherwise, Kyle could never show himself in Gotham again. On Earth, probably. Hell, that side of the galaxy, just to be sure.

…

“This is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life,” Kyle says, folding his arm across his chest, “and let it be known, I lead a pretty embarrassing-prone life.”

“I, for one, think it’s actually cute,” Jason protests from where he’s sitting on the sofa with Maura.

“I think so, too. Kyle has a flare for dramatics,” she answers, shooting Kyle an amused glance. The wrinkles on her face are a little more prominent than the last time he came to visit. “You always say that when I take out an album with your childhood pictures.”

“Because childhood photos are an embarrassing thing, mom, especially for the people in question,” Kyle states, eyeing the album suspiciously. He’s wondering, not for the first time, how did they end up here, in his family house in Los Angeles, with Jason showing great interest in listening to Maura’s stories.

“Oh, you’re exaggerating,” his mother says simply, flipping a page in the album. “Most of your pictures come from the first few years of your life –”

“So, the most embarrassing time,” Kyle notices.

“– because later our camera broke down and as a teenager, you were…”

“Camera shy?” Jason offers.

“No, I’d rather say, _camera sulky_ ,” Maura amends and Jason laughs. “It was almost impossible to take a photo where Kyle would be smiling.”

Kyle considers arguing, but it’s hard to fight the truth. He wasn’t a particularly sunshine teenager, spending his time sketching quasi-epic stories that would never see the light of the day or hanging around in his friend’s garages as they listened to Nine Inch Nails’ albums on a tape recorder. And the relationship with his mother was growing more strained and distant the more Kyle asked about his father and the less Maura was willing to talk about him.

It’s a funny thing, how little some things matter now, after all those years. Kyle wordlessly watches his mother point to some picture in the album, talking about the time he broke his arm in kindergarten. (Kyle only remembers it hurt like hell back then.) He looks and wants to ask, _How are you feeling, are you sleeping well, you would tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?_ , but the words never leave his mouth. Kyle doesn’t think it’s because of Jason; no, it’s just him, sometimes still terribly incapable of asking hard questions and talking about important things.

As if reading his mind, Maura looks up at him and smiles. It’s a warm, reassuring smile that answers all the questions Kyle hasn’t asked. The tightness that suddenly gripped his throat eases.

“Well, boys, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get ready for my volunteer thing at the hospital,” Maura says, getting up. “There are fresh vegetables and some meat in the fridge if you would like to cook.” She glances to the windows. “The weather is nice today, you should take Jason to the beach, Kyle. I suppose you don’t get a lot of sun in Gotham,” she adds, addressing Jason.

“Not really,” he agrees with a smile. “And certainly not in my line of work.”

“We will consider it, thanks, mom,” Kyle replies as Maura just hums in acknowledgment and heads for her bedroom.

Dropping on the sofa next to Jason, Kyle says, “Now my mother _knows_ you’re either a brooding vigilante or a shady crook.”

“ _Crook_ ,” Jason repeats with disdain. “I used to be a crime lord, Kyle, show some respect for the profession.”

Kyle just rolls his eyes, mouthing, _Right, of course_ , when Jason can’t see him. A minute or two passes and Jason asks, not looking away from the album in his lap, “She was pretty sick, wasn’t she?”

The question makes Kyle recoil before he composes himself; he never talked about that with Jason and he wasn’t aware the atmosphere was so easy to pick up on. “Yeah, a few years ago, when I was Ion,” he answers eventually, looking at his mother’s flower collection. “The doctors tried, but had no idea what it was and her condition was worsening rapidly. In the end, it’s thanks to Soranik Natu – she’s a Lantern, a doctor from Korugar,” he explains, sensing Jason’s question, “that my mother is still alive.”

There were many variables at stake – Natu could have not been able to identify the illness, they could have not been able to provide the cure, it might have not worked. All those what-ifs make Kyle’s head spin when he recalls that time and he doesn’t think he’ll ever completely shake off the prickling fear at the back of his mind that this illness may return, no matter what Natu said and didn’t say.

Probably sensing that, Jason just hums and brings the album up. “Your mother is right, though,” he says, sounding amused. “Look at that photo, you were such a cute kid. What happened to you, Kyle?” he asks dramatically.

Kyle spares a glance at the picture and snorts; he must had been around three here, and he was hugging a teddy bear almost twice his size, smiling proudly.

“I grew up and discovered rock music and other fuels for teenage rebellion,” he deadpans.

“Ah,” Jason just says, arching an eyebrow. “I always felt especially rebellious if I managed to sneak a cup of coffee past Bruce or Alfred. B had me on a coffee ban,” he adds when Kyle just stares at him.

“That’s,” he starts and pauses for a moment. “You know, that’s exactly what I’d expect of him.”

Jason chuckles and Kyle tilts his head, looking back to the pictures. Come to think of it, he’s pretty surprised his mother pulled the album out; as far as he knew, she did that when she was feeling nostalgic and it didn’t seem like they caught her in that mood today. They didn’t really have more relatives and the only other instance of Maura sharing the album he can think of was when Kyle happened to bring home some of his girlfriends back in school days. Actually, he thinks Donna also did catch a glimpse of some photos before things went south between them.

Huh. He _definitely_ doesn’t want to consider the implications of his mother showing Jason the album.

“So,” Kyle asks, clearing his throat, “the food or the beach?”

Jason seems to ponder the question for a moment before closing the album and putting it on the table. “Let’s make dinner first,” he decides. “I’ve been living solely off take outs recently. I’m eager to cook something.”

Kyle laughs at that. “But not so eager to burn down my mother’s kitchen, I hope?”

Jason shoots him a dirty look. “I regret ever telling you about that,” he says, shaking his head. “I was blacked out after almost dying, it’s no wonder I ended up falling asleep while the stove was on.”

“Uh-huh,” Kyle agrees placidly and narrowly misses getting smacked in the face with a cushion.

…

“I can’t believe you woke me up at ass o’clock, so you could fly us to a beach in Santa Monica to _watch sunrise_ ,” Jason grumbles under his breath.

Kyle, looking entirely too put together for not even six in the morning, flashes a smile and says, “You’re so mean, Jason. Where is your appreciation for romantic gestures?”

“Stayed on the sofa in your mom’s living room after you kicked me awake,” he mutters, looking around as they walk along the shore. The sand is pale and the waves are coming and going the their left, a calming rhythm. There’s an amusement park further down, but it’s quiet and still. The beach itself looks impossibly deserted because no sane person wakes up on Sunday before the sun to watch it rise.

Yeah, Jason always knew Kyle was _ridiculous_.

“But you have to admit, there were sights to behold on our way here,” Kyle says, idly kicking at the sand.

Jason snorts. “Yeah, especially that huge ass neon clown sign. What the fuck is wrong with people in L.A., Kyle?”

“Well, it _is_ rather creepy-looking,” Kyle admits, shrugging. “But it’s also a local landmark at this point. It’s been featured in many movies. _Clueless_ , for example. Alex used to call it a pop-cultural masterpiece of 90s.” He glances at Jason. “You saw _Clueless_ , right?”

Jason breathes in the smell of the ocean. “It’s loosely based on _Emma_. Of course I saw it.”

“Right,” Kyle says. And, after a moment, “So… _Clueless_ or _10 Things I Hate About You_?”

“Don’t bring Shakespeare up at this ungodly hour,” Jason says, shoving at him.

Jason isn’t sure when was the last time he got to see the sunrise; if he’s up for that after a long night in Gotham, he rarely has energy or means to appreciate it. Now, watching as the sky gradually colors a warm shade of orange and the sun casts shadows along the pier, he can no longer bring himself to be annoyed at Kyle.

“It’s lovely,” he says quietly.

“Yeah,” Kyle agrees softly. “Beautiful.”

When Jason turns his head, Kyle isn’t watching the sunrise, but him.

The way Kyle is looking at him, it’s – tender. _Affectionate_. It makes Jason skin crawl and he kind of wants to jump into the ocean and swim to Mexico. It’d probably be a safer thing to do. An easier way out.

Instead, he closes the distance between them and kisses Kyle.

For a few awkward seconds, Kyle just stands there, seemingly not even breathing, and makes Jason regret every one of his dumb choices that led up to this moment. Then, Kyle is kissing him back with much enthusiasm, cupping Jason’s face in his hands. It reminds Jason of a light stubble on his cheeks; he didn’t get to shave in the morning because of Kyle insistently hurrying him up. It’s a miracle he got to brush his teeth before they took off.

 _Absolutely and utterly ridiculous_ , Jason thinks fondly as his hands travel to the small of Kyle’s back and bring him closer.

After they break away and before Jason can say something inappropriate or corny, Kyle punches him in the arm. “ _Ouch_ ,” Jason calls, more out of shock than any real pain. “What was that for?” If it’s because Kyle didn’t like their first kiss, he’s gonna be disappointed; he rather enjoyed it.

“For– going and messing with me!’ Kyle exclaims. His expression is funny, caught somewhere between bewilderment, annoyment and elation. “I had a _plan_ for this, Jason, and you just went and kissed me –”

“I shouldn’t have done that?” Jason raises an eyebrow.

“That’s not – you’re missing the point.” Kyle throws his hands up in the air. “I wanted to do this right.”

Jason stares at him and sighs. “Kyle, that’s sweet, but we’ve literally been to different universes and planets together. You’ve saved my ass more times than I can count and have seen me getting tossed around by my superhuman teammates playing catch. I’ve seen your childhood pictures and I know for a fact you drool in your sleep over every vaguely horizontal space since you were like, three. The thing is,” he hesitates, “we sure can go wrong about _this_ ,” he gestures between them, “but there isn’t really a _right_ way.”

Kyle seems to consider that before eventually saying, “Yeah, I suppose it’s true.”

“Besides,” Jason adds, grinning, “newsflash, _asshole_ , we’ve been married almost this entire time. Did you forget?”

“That’s a _huge_ overstatement,” Kyle protests, his cheeks going red. He rests his forehead against Jason’s shoulder. “We’re a mess,” he says.

“A little, yeah,” he agrees, running his hand up and down Kyle’s back. He looks up to see no traces of the night sky left. “So, is there something from your plan that we can still do?”

“Well, I was thinking we can go the amusement park,” Kyle says slowly and Jason chuckles because _of course he did_ , “but it’s still a while before it opens.”

“Hm, what can we do with all that time?” Jason wonders out loud as Kyle’s mouth lazily works its way up his neck. When it settles against Jason’s own lips, he thinks it’s an answer enough.

**Author's Note:**

> if someone doesn't know how [the neon clown sign](http://farm1.staticflickr.com/121/287048887_14c9b42514_b.jpg) looks like. america is a weird place
> 
> twitter @ angelonthewing


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